Preview

Summary Of Steven Levitt's Six Misconceptions

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
268 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Steven Levitt's Six Misconceptions
Steven Levitt’s article explains the six misconceptions on why crime rate fell and provides the main reason the crime rate dropped which was the legalization of abortions in the United States in 1973. Abortions allowed women to not give birth to unwanted children which had a high chance of becoming criminals due to the lack of love, care, and attention the child would receive from his/her parents. The economist observed that in areas which legalized abortion before 1973 resulted in experiencing a decrease in their crime rates earlier than the rest of the United States and provided further validation for his hypothesis.

The article makes use of tables, charts, and diagrams to explain to the reader how each contributing factor such as a strong
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Texkansahomatucky: High Crimes Counties
    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Texkansahomatucky: High Crimes Counties

    By comparing total crimes per population, we concluded the population per square mile is not a factor in determining the amount of crime: York County has a population of 9.01persons per square mile and it’s a high-crime county and Lane County has a population of 13.7 persons per square mile and is also a high-crime county; on the other hand, Lake County has a population of 4528.1 persons per square mile and Lee County has a population of 5609.25 persons per square mile and they are both considered low-crime counties. Therefore, our metric using total crimes, instead of a breakdown of individual categories of crimes and population provide the best methodology to identify and classify the levels of crime levels in the counties of…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pop Eleches Documentary Summary
    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pop Eleches Documentary Summary

    Furthermore, while watching the documentary, I was interested in how the ban of abortion impacted the national crime rates in the 1990’s and 2000’s. It was found that the cohort of children born between 1967 and 1969 had lower crime rates than those born prior to 1976. Meanwhile, the cohort of children born after 1970 had higher crime rates than those born prior to the ban of abortion. However, the degree of change of crime rates between these cohorts is minimal. However, Pop-Eleches does admit that there exist a variety of factors that contribute to the country’s crime rates, and that his findings are not dependent on the banning of abortion (Pop-Eleches 2006:767).…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Levitt And Dubcott's Freakonomics Summary
    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Levitt And Dubcott's Freakonomics Summary

    The duo validates their argument by pointing at how the candid laws that initially permitted abortion and those that later followed that prohibited it impacted crime rates in the US either negatively or positively. In this work, I have applied Wolcott's "Steps for Better Thinking" for providing answers for the reason behind the experienced crime rate reduction.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Freakonomics Chapter 4 Summary
    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Freakonomics Chapter 4 Summary

    In Chapter 4 of Freakonomics, the main subject is the question on why criminal activity has declined so rapidly at such a sharp rate in time. This chapter goes in depth and explains the relevance between abortions and the impact it had on society. While crime is still going on today the overall statistics of criminal actions has decreased at such a high numbers many questions were asked on how and why this has happened. This chapter goes into detail on the 1990’s in which one big law was passed that ultimately resulted in a lower population of criminals in the United States.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Urban Society-Gesellshaft Thesis: How Individuals Lead To Crime
    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Urban Society-Gesellshaft Thesis: How Individuals Lead To Crime

    Individuals lead to crime for slightly different reasons which relate to their unique genetic character, their corresponding mental ability, their socialization and life circumstances; it is the interplay of these and other variables, any one of which may be more determinative in a particular case that causes a particular individual to resort to crime. Consequently, crime, like poverty, doesn't lend itself very well to comprehensive solutions, unless these solutions simultaneously address all the dominant factors underlying its causation in the majority of cases. The “Urban Society-Gesellshaft Thesis” goes on to say that important normative constraint which served to deter criminal behavior in the past tend to be absent in modern urban societies. The dramatic increase in crime in the 19th and 20th centuries has been attributed to the absence of a sense of community in urban societies.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Levitt's Freakonomics
    • 94 Words
    • 1 Page

    Levitt's Freakonomics

    The central thesis and argument of this segment of Freakonomics are the reasons why the rates of crime in the United States rapidly reduce in recent years. I think this argument that Steven Levitt reasonably explains about decreasing American criminal rates in possible points. As Levitt’s explanations, he is arguing that an increase in the reliance on prisons, innovative policing strategies, changes in the crack market, lawful enforcements including to increase in police nationwide and gun-control laws, and a legalization of abortion. I personally also think that all of these reasons are definitely…

    • 94 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Nt1110 Unit 11 Lab
    • 2482 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Nt1110 Unit 11 Lab

    Cohen, L., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. In F. Cullen & R. Agnew (Eds.), Criminological Theory Past to…

    • 2482 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Abortion As Depicted In Steven Dubner's Freakonomics
    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Abortion As Depicted In Steven Dubner's Freakonomics

    Many commonly conceivable explanations are given as the answer to this such as increased number of police, more imprisonment, and an expanded police force. However, a more anomalous explanation for the drop in crime was that of legalized abortion. When abortion was made legal after the Roe vs. Wade case, the amount of women who had abortions increased dramatically. Levitt stated that studies showed, “childhood poverty and a single-parent household-are among the strongest predictors that a child will have a criminal future”(138). He also explained that “abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime”(139). This theory is something that reaches so far out of the common person’s comfort zone and appears to be so unbelievable; it stretches beyond our common way of thinking. However, the statistics suggest that this could be a very accurate reason behind the drastic drop in crime. For example, a statistic Levitt includes in his argument states, “Since 1985, states with high abortion rates have experienced a roughly 30 percent drop in crime relative to low-abortion…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Freakonomics
    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Freakonomics

    In the novel Freakonomics, Levit and Dubner try to take a unique approach to analyzing reasons behind why things occur in our society. Essentially, “What this book is about is stripping a layer or two from the surface of modern life and seeing what is happening underneath.” (10) A perfect example of this is how they discovered that the legalization of abortion was the cause of crime dropping to its lowest level in thirty-five years. While most expert economists simply attributed the drop to the wellness of the economy, the increase in gun control laws and the new policing strategies, Levit and Dubner searched for other possibilities where no one else thought to look. That is when they realized that approximately twenty years before the drastic drop in crime, abortion was legalized. Studies have shown that “… a child born into an adverse family environment is far more likely than other children to become a criminal.” (4) Thus, this theory was proven further by the fact that around the time when these children would have begun committing crimes, there was significantly less crime.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Donald Trump's Freakonomics Essay
    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Donald Trump's Freakonomics Essay

    Sometimes the best way to take off a band aid isn’t to rip it off quickly. Such a rigid shock can cause excessive discomfort. He argues that crime has dropped in that past 20 years because of the legalization of abortion. Abortion is an extremely sensitive topic and debating it, in the USA, has essentially become taboo. Families that tend to practice abortion, using that phrase loosely, are more likely to raise children that become criminals. They aren’t able to raise the children well in their economic struggle.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Poverty In Memphis Research Paper
    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Poverty In Memphis Research Paper

    At first glance of the cityscape the thought may arise on why crime is not the principle personal concern. However, decades of research suggest poverty is the driving force for crime. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote “poverty is the parent of crime.” Nevertheless, poverty, crime and the lack of education are all related.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    freakonomics
    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    freakonomics

    Levitt also believed that legalization of abortion was the real crime stopper. Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime. He believed that the children born after Roe vs. Wade hit their adolescent years the crime began to fall. This meant if the mothers that did not want children and had those children were more likely to be the criminals, then the mothers that wanted children and were brought up with fathers were less likely to cause any crimes. He tested this theory by looking at the effects. Measure the crime data in the five states that abortion was legal before the law changed. Which come to find out the crime rates did indeed drop.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sudden Crime Drop Of The 80's
    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sudden Crime Drop Of The 80's

    This chapter tackles the complex questions surrounding the sudden crime drop of the 1990’s. It dissects a slew of possible reasons and comes to a conclusion that wasn’t even originally listed, but was talked about at the beginning of the chapter. It begins discussing Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist dictator of Romania, and his abolishment of abortion. He felt the increase of child birth would ensure it a rapid increase of national strength. And he was right. Birth rate doubled, but these children had it worse in almost every way. They had lower test scores, bad luck finding jobs in the market, and were more likely to be criminals. This ban stayed in effect until the family lost control in 1989. The protesters were all very young and unhappy with their lives.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Crime Rates: Explanation For The Decline
    • 2394 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Crime Rates: Explanation For The Decline

    Criminologists believe that the decline is a result of varying factors in the criminal justice system. There is a causal link between legalized abortion and the drop in crime during the 1990’s. The implementation of the Three Strikes Law in state governments has also aided in decreasing crime rates. These factors function cohesively to affect crime rates. Conversely, the economy impact has the weakest correlation to be able to account for the reduction. Crime rates in the United States have steadily declined in the past twenty years due to the legalization of abortion as well as the implementation of the three strikes law.…

    • 2394 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Causes Of Poverty In America
    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Causes Of Poverty In America

    There are multiple factors that play in the crime wave we see. I feel a major problem that contributes to the problem is poverty. For year’s people though that poverty just caused because of the stereotypic mindset that this is America and anything is possible here. But that’s not the case for others (Cause and Effects p.2). Today it…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics